熟练双语者负性情绪干扰下的认知优势效应:来自2-back的证据

熟练双语者在空间工作记忆中存在认知优势,但是在负性情绪干扰下熟练双语者在空间工作记忆中是否存在认知优势尚不清楚。空间工作记忆和负性情绪均以大脑右半球为优势脑区,加工效能理论认为空间工作记忆和负性情绪的加工使用同样的认知资源。研究采用情绪空间2-back任务,探究在负性情绪刺激干扰下的空间工作记忆任务中熟练双语者是否存在认知优势。结果表明,熟练双语者在该任务中表现出比非熟练双语者更高的正确率和更短的反应时。这一结果说明,尽管存在负性情绪刺激的干扰,相比非熟练双语者,熟练双语者在空间工作记忆中仍然表现出了认知优势。     

中英双语者情绪注意偏向中的双语优势效应

采用改进的点–探测范式,考察熟练双语者在情绪注意偏向中对情绪信息加工的优势效应及该效应产生的原因。采用2（熟练双语者和非熟练双语者）×3（靶刺激与消极词汇出现的位置一致、不一致和中性条件）×2（线索呈现时间为100 ms和400 ms）的混合实验设计,记录被试对靶子的按键反应时和错误率。结果发现：线索呈现100 ms和400 ms时,两组被试在注意定向分数上无显著差异;线索呈现100 ms时,两组被试的注意解除分数无显著差异;线索呈现400 ms时,熟练双语者的注意解除分数显著小于非熟练双语者。结果表明,在情绪注意偏向任务中,熟练双语者比非熟练双语者表现出了对情绪词汇信息更好的注意抑制控制能力,体现出对情绪信息加工的双语优势效应,产生这一优势效应的原因是熟练双语者在注意的晚期阶段比非熟练双语者具有更好的情绪信息注意解除能力。     

Bimodal bilinguals reveal the source of tip-of-the-tongue states

Bilinguals report more tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) failures than monolinguals. Three accounts of this disadvantage are that bilinguals experience between-language interference at (a) semantic and/or (b) phonological levels, or (c) that bilinguals use each language less frequently than monolinguals. Bilinguals who speak one language and sign another help decide between these alternatives because their languages lack phonological overlap. Twenty-two American Sign Language (ASL)-English bilinguals, 22 English monolinguals, and 11 Spanish-English bilinguals named 52 pictures in English. Despite no phonological overlap between languages, ASL-English bilinguals had more TOTs than monolinguals, and equivalent TOTs as Spanish-English bilinguals. These data eliminate phonological blocking as the exclusive source of bilingual disadvantages. A small advantage of ASL-English over Spanish-English bilinguals in correct retrievals is consistent with semantic interference and a minor role for phonological blocking. However, this account faces substantial challenges. We argue reduced frequency of use is the more comprehensive explanation of TOT rates in all bilinguals.     

Bilingualism and adult differences in inhibitory mechanisms: evidence from a bilingual stroop task

The present investigation examined the functioning of inhibitory mechanisms in younger and older bilinguals using a bilingual version of the Stroop test. The study predicted different patterns of age related decline in inhibitory mechanisms (inter- and intralingual interference) in bilinguals depending on their level of proficiency. Consistent with expectations, older bilinguals were slower when they responded in their non-dominant language. Furthermore, older unbalanced bilinguals showed greater interlingual interference when they responded with their second language to visual stimuli written in their dominant language. Balanced bilinguals showed equivalent interference effects between all conditions. These findings suggest that manipulating two languages may enhance the efficiency of inhibitory mechanisms.     

Effects of speed of word processing on semantic access: the case of bilingualism

Bilingual speakers generally manifest slower word recognition than monolinguals. We investigated the consequences of the word processing speed on semantic access in bilinguals. The paradigm involved a stream of English words and pseudowords presented in succession at a constant rate. English-Welsh bilinguals and English monolinguals were asked to count the number of letters in pseudowords and actively disregard words. They were not explicitly told that pairs of words in immediate succession were embedded and could either be semantically related or not. We expected that slower word processing in bilinguals would result in semantic access indexed by semantic priming. As expected, bilinguals showed significant semantic priming, indexed by an N400 modulation, whilst monolinguals did not. Moreover, bilinguals were slower in performing the task. The results suggest that bilinguals cannot discriminate between pseudowords and words without accessing semantic information whereas monolinguals can dismiss English words on the basis of subsemantic information.     

The processing of two-digit numbers in bilinguals

We explored possible between-language influences when bilinguals processed two-digit numbers. Spanish/English bilinguals and German/English bilinguals performed a number comparison task with Arabic digits and verbal numbers in their first language (L1) and second language (L2) while the unit-decade compatibility was manipulated. The two bilingual groups showed regular compatibility effect with Arabic digits. In L1, Spanish/English bilinguals showed reverse compatibility effect, while German/English bilinguals showed regular compatibility effect. However, both groups of bilinguals presented reverse compatibility effect in English (L2), which suggested that the bilinguals' L1 did not determine the processing of number words in their L2. The results indicated that bilinguals processed two-digit number words selectively in their L1 and L2 and that they did not transcode L2 numbers into Arabic format.     

Better early or late? Examining the influence of age of exposure and language proficiency on executive function in early and late bilinguals

Previous research has shown that early and late bilinguals differ in their language learning experiences and linguistic outcomes. However, evidence of differences between these bilinguals on measures of executive function (EF) has been mixed. As a result, the current study sought to (1) determine whether early and late bilinguals vary from one another and (2) exhibit cognitive advantages in EF relative to monolinguals. One hundred and five participants (42 monolinguals, 40 early bilinguals and 23 late bilinguals) completed the study. Participants' EF skills were assessed using the Auditorily Cued Number Numeral Task. Overall, the results did not reveal clear advantages for the early bilinguals compared to the two other groups. In fact, early bilinguals and monolinguals were equivalent in their performance on the EF task, whereas the late bilinguals were less accurate, relative to the other two groups. The differences in the performance of early and late bilinguals are discussed in terms of the competition model of second-language learning proposed in previous research. Taken together, these findings indicate that individual differences in EF influence the observed differences found in EF across language groups.     

不同熟练类型双语者情绪Stroop中的自动化情绪通达

采用情绪Stroop范式探讨3种不同熟练类型双语者在L1(The first language,简称L1)和L2(The second language,简称L2)条件下的自动化情绪通达。实验设计为2(L1和L2)×3(全面熟练双语者、阅读型熟练双语者和听说型熟练双语者)×3(积极词、消极词和中性词)的混合设计,记录3组被试对词汇颜色判断的反应时和错误率。结果:(1)全面熟练双语者和阅读型熟练双语者在L1和L2条件下对情绪词汇颜色命名的反应时显著大于中性词汇;(2)听说型熟练双语者在L1条件下对情绪词汇颜色命名的反应时大于中性词汇,而L2条件下3种词汇并无差异。结论:(1)全面熟练双语者在L1和L2条件下均出现了自动化情绪通达;阅读型熟练双语者在L1和L2条件下也出现了自动化情绪通达;(2)听说型熟练双语者在L2条件下没有达到自动化情绪通达,其情绪联结性弱于L1条件。不同语言习得类型的熟练双语者在情绪Stroop任务中情绪自动化通达的表现是不同的。     

Visual field asymmetries for rhyme and semantic tasks in fluent and nonfluent bilinguals.

A tachistoscopic study investigated hemispheric specialization among fluent and nonfluent bilinguals for rhyme and semantic tasks in both their languages. Fluent bilinguals gave faster responses and made fewer errors in their responses to the words presented in the RVF(LH) while the opposite happened for nonfluent, which indicates greater RH participation in the first stages of a second language. Fluent bilinguals performed better not only in the second but also in their native language, suggesting superior language skills on the part of fluent bilinguals. A LVF(RH) superiority was obtained for semantic tasks, indicating RH participation in semantic judgments. Another finding was a high ratio of first-born children among fluent bilinguals, potentially explained in terms of parental attitudes toward first- versus later born children.     

Second Language Processing of Korean Floating Numeral Quantifiers

This study investigated whether Chinese–Korean bilinguals can use structure-based information to interpret Korean sentences containing floating numeral quantifiers during online processing. A numeral quantifier in Korean can be stranded from its modified noun through scrambling as long as the quantifier forms a constituent with the noun. For Chinese–Korean bilinguals, acquiring this structural knowledge gives rise to a learnability problem because this ability cannot be derived from the L1, not easily induced from Korean input and is not obtained through classroom instruction. In acceptability judgment, highly proficient Chinese–Korean bilinguals demonstrated target-like knowledge of this structural constraint. Results from a self-paced reading task showed that the bilinguals showed sensitivity to the violation of the mismatch between an NQ and its modified NP, both in local and non-local dependency conditions. Our findings suggest that structure-based processing is possible for highly proficient bilinguals even when the target structure is not instantiated in bilinguals’ L1.     

On the Functional Equivalence of Monolinguals and Bilinguals in "Monolingual Mode": The Bilingual Anticipation Effect in Picture-Word Processing

Previous evidence indicates that bilinguals are slowed when an unexpected language switch occurs when they are reading aloud. This anticipation effect was investigated using a picture-word translation task to compare English monolinguals and Spanish-English bilinguals functioning in "monolingual mode." Monolinguals and half of the bilinguals drew pictures or wrote English words for picture or English word stimuli; the remaining bilinguals drew pictures or wrote Spanish words for picture or Spanish word stimuli. Production onset latency was longer in cross-modality translation than within-modality copying, and the increments were equivalent between groups across stimulus and production modalities. Assessed within participants, bilinguals were slower than monolinguals under intermixed but not under blocked trial conditions. Results indicate that the bilingual anticipation effect is not specific to language-mixing tasks. More generally, stimulus-processing uncertainty prevents establishment of a "base" symbolic-system procedure (concerning recognition, production, and intervening translation) and the inhibition of others. When this uncertainty is removed, bilinguals exhibit functional equivalence to monolinguals.     

On the time course of exogenous cueing effects in bilinguals: higher proficiency in a second language is associated with more rapid endogenous disengagement

Previous investigations have demonstrated a bilingual advantage on various aspects of executive control. It remains unclear how the language proficiency of bilinguals might relate to the mechanisms involved in attentional disengagement. In the present investigation, we tested the hypothesis that high bilingual proficiency would lead to a more rapid endogenous disengagement of attention from task-irrelevant peripheral cues. We predicted that more rapid attentional disengagement would result in an earlier appearance of inhibition of return (IOR). In this study Hindi-English bilinguals who differed in their L2 (English) proficiency participated in a target detection task. Visual targets were preceded by uninformative peripheral cues at various stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs) allowing for us to visualize the time course of cue-related facilitation and inhibition. High-proficient Hindi-English bilinguals showed an earlier appearance of IOR than did low-proficient bilinguals, suggesting increased efficiency in disengagement of attention from task-irrelevant inputs. Furthermore, consistent with the "global" advantage that characterizes bilinguals in many tasks, the high-proficient group outperformed low-proficient bilinguals in overall reaction time.     

On the time course of exogenous cueing effects in bilinguals: Higher proficiency in a second language is associated with more rapid endogenous disengagement

Previous investigations have demonstrated a bilingual advantage on various aspects of executive control. It remains unclear how the language proficiency of bilinguals might relate to the mechanisms involved in attentional disengagement. In the present investigation, we tested the hypothesis that high bilingual proficiency would lead to a more rapid endogenous disengagement of attention from task-irrelevant peripheral cues. We predicted that more rapid attentional disengagement would result in an earlier appearance of inhibition of return (IOR). In this study Hindi–English bilinguals who differed in their L2 (English) proficiency participated in a target detection task. Visual targets were preceded by uninformative peripheral cues at various stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs) allowing for us to visualize the time course of cue-related facilitation and inhibition. High-proficient Hindi–English bilinguals showed an earlier appearance of IOR than did low-proficient bilinguals, suggesting increased efficiency in disengagement of attention from task-irrelevant inputs. Furthermore, consistent with the “global” advantage that characterizes bilinguals in many tasks, the high-proficient group outperformed low-proficient bilinguals in overall reaction time.     

Does bilingualism hamper lexical access in speech production?

In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that bilingualism may cause a linguistic disadvantage in lexical access even for bilinguals' first and dominant language. To this purpose, we conducted a picture naming experiment comparing the performance of monolinguals and highly-proficient, L1-dominant bilinguals. The results revealed that monolinguals name pictures faster than bilinguals, both when bilinguals perform picture naming in their first and dominant language and when they do so in their weaker second language. This is the first time it has been demonstrated that bilinguals show a naming disadvantage in their L1 in comparison to monolingual speakers.     

Visual field asymmetries for rhyme and syntactic category judgments in monolinguals and fluent early and late bilinguals

A tachistoscopic study investigated hemispheric specialization among monolingual and fluent French-English bilingual adults for speeded rhyme and syntactic category matching. A right visual field superiority was obtained for both types of verbal judgments. This effect was more pronounced in late bilinguals than in early bilinguals or monolinguals. In addition, bilingual subgroup differences in response latency and strategy were found, suggesting a preference for semantic processing among early bilinguals and for surface processing among late bilinguals, consistent with previous findings. Possible theoretical implications of these differences are outlined.     

How do highly proficient bilinguals control their lexicalization process? Inhibitory and language-specific selection mechanisms are both functional

The authors report 4 experiments exploring the language-switching performance of highly proficient bilinguals in a picture-naming task. In Experiment 1, they tested the impact of language similarity and age of 2nd language acquisition on the language-switching performance of highly proficient bilinguals. Experiments 2, 3, and 4 assessed the performance of highly proficient bilinguals in language-switching contexts involving (a) the 2nd language (L2) and the L3 of the bilinguals, (b) the L3 and the L4, and (c) the L1 and a recently learned new language. Highly proficient bilinguals showed symmetrical switching costs regardless of the age at which the L2 was learned and of the similarities of the 2 languages and asymmetrical switching costs when 1 of the languages involved in the switching task was very weak (an L4 or a recently learned language). The theoretical implications of these results for the attentional mechanisms used by highly proficient bilinguals to control their lexicalization process are discussed.     

Left hemisphere language lateralization in bilinguals and monolinguals

Tachistoscopic studies of lateralization in bilinguals suggest that there is a greater degree of right hemisphere involvement in their processing of language than is typically found in monolinguals. However, most of the studies reviewed failed to control the sex, handedness, and degree of fluency of the subjects and did not include a monolingual comparison group. The present study used adult right-handed males (Portuguese-English bilinguals and English-speaking monolinguals) in a tachistoscopic word-reading task. In Experiment 1, the words from the bilinguals’ two languages were presented in mixed blocks, while in Experiment 2, they were presented in separate blocks. The results were: (1) a similar level of left hemisphere advantage for language in the bilingual and the monolingual groups, (2) no evidence of greater heterogeneity of asymmetry patterns in bilinguals, and (3) a significant correlation (r=.61) for lateralization levels of the bilinguals’ two languages. These results indicate that language is processed primarily in the left hemisphere of both bilinguals and monolinguals.     

词切分对日-汉和汉-日双语者日语阅读影响的眼动研究*

选取24名日-汉和24名汉-日双语者,采用EyeLink2000眼动仪,探讨日-汉和汉-日双语者阅读有词切分线索的日语文本的眼动特征,研究词切分线索对日-汉和汉-日双语者日语句子阅读的影响。研究包括两个实验。实验一采用三种词切分方式：正常条件、词间空格条件和非词条件。为了确保三种词切分条件下句子的空间分布一致,实验二采用灰条标记作为词或非词的边界。结果表明,日语文本中加入词间空格促进汉-日双语者日语文本的阅读。     

工作记忆更新任务中的认知优势效应

目的：采用N-back范式,探讨熟练双语者与非熟练双语者之间工作记忆更新能力的差异,以验证双语优势效应是否存在于工作记忆更新任务中。方法：采用数字型2-back任务,两因素混合实验设计。自变量分别为被试间变量(熟练双语者与非熟练双语者）和被试内变量（低难度任务组和高难度任务组）,因变量为2-back任务中目标刺激、非目标刺激、诱惑刺激和非诱惑刺激的准确率和反应时。结果：熟练双语者与非熟练双语者在低难度的2-back任务（一般的2-back任务）中,目标刺激和非目标刺激的准确率和反应时上没有差异;在高难度任务组（有冲突的2-back任务）中,熟练双语者在非目标刺激、诱惑刺激和非诱惑刺激的准确率显著高于非熟练双语者。结论：工作记忆更新中的“双语优势效应”更容易体现在高执行功能需求的条件下。     

Bilinguals in a monolingual and a bilingual speech mode: The effect on lexical access

The time course of lexical access in fluent Portuguese-English bilinguals and in English speaking monolinguals was examined during the on-line processing of spoken sentences using the phoneme-triggered lexical decision task (Blank, 1980). The bilinguals were tested in two distinct speech modes: a monolingual, English or Portuguese, speech mode, and a bilingual, code-switching, speech mode. Although the bilingual’s lexical decision response times to word targets in the monolingual speech modes were identical to those of the monolingual subjects, their response times to code-switched word targets in the bilingual mode were significantly slower. In addition, the bilinguals took longer to detect nonwords in both the monolingual and bilingual modes. These results confirm that bilinguals cannot totally deactivate their other language when in a monolingual speech mode. It is hypothesized that bilinguals search both lexicons when confronted with nonwords, even when in a totally monolingual mode, and that they search the base-language lexicon before the other lexicon when in a bilingual, code-switching, speech mode.